I did a search and didn't find a thread on this topic. Apologies if I am wrong.

I've not been bothered about 'automation' much but I had a hankering for Philips Hue lights. They were featured on The Gadget Show last night and that convinced me, after a couple of whiskies, that I needed a three bulb starter colour/white pack. Amazon had them here mid morning today. So far I have set up two bulbs.

They are quite clever things and bright enough at 9.5W LED. The Hue app on iPhone is OK and comes with a Watch app. The iOS Home app picks them up and can control them and by extension, Siri can turn them on and off and dim/brighten them. There is a remote control unit as well but that seems to control all bulbs regardless of where they are in the house.

Does anyone else have any other HomeKit type hardware? If so, what is it like?

I had a plug, the initial set-up was confusing, in order to control it while away from home you need a hub - an iPad or an AppleTV of the correct vintage. You also need an AppleID with two-factor authentication enabled on it - which they don't tell you.

Be aware that if you want to go the whole hog with home automation, UK light circuits tend to be of the two-wire type (no neutral). So unless you only use automated bulbs (such as the Hues) and keep your light switches on all the time you are limited in your options. For HomeKit at the moment, there are none as far as I know.

I have the bulbs in three different rooms and this evening, I sorted the remote to only operate on the one bulb rather than all three (default). They are easier to control with the Hue app but replicate mostly to HomeKit.

The dimmer function is good rather than have a dimmer switch for my circumstance. In the room I mostly occupy during the day, there are three switches on one unit by the door that control the kitchen, centre area and side wall. Leaving one switch on is no big deal now the remote is sorted. The Hue app on the Watch could make me lazy, or ask Siri if I'm not feeling self-conscious (I'm still not comfortable talking to tech).

I'm happy enough with them so far. I just need to adapt my behaviours.

As far as using the TV - I'll stick to the three small portables. I did try 2FA but it completely stuffed up my security settings on all devices so I fought back to standard and am not going there again, despite the alleged advantages.